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Tony Masiello is a busy guy. Aside from being an accomplished visual effects artist and director, he’s devoted much of his life to the celebration of shot-on-video films through his website, SOVHorror.com, as well as the documentary series S.O.V. The True Independents, which provides a visual history of shot on video horror films of the ’80s and ’90s. So, when he stumbled on a tape of the entirely unavailable 1990 body horror SOV film Metal Noir, you could have forgiven him for celebrating his good fortune in a low-key way. Maybe write it up for his website, or pass itRead More

When WWE Films released The Marine in 2006, it failed to even earn back its modest $20 million budget at the domestic box office. It was by no means great cinema; even as a generic B-grade action picture, it had its shortcomings, mostly due to the restrictions of its unfortunate PG-13 rating. But it earned an audience on home video — much like the films it attempted to emulate did decades prior — due to its famous wrestler star, John Cena, and some good, old fashioned jingoism, which was in fashion in the mid-2000s. Flash forward thirteen years laterRead More

Frank Henenlotter’s 1990 comedy horror cult classic, Frankenhooker, is a campy spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in which Jeffrey, a failed med student, reanimates his recently beheaded fiance, Elizabeth, after a freak accident. Jeffrey, who is part mad scientist and part obsessive lover, concocts a plan to build Elizabeth a new body, attach her severed head and revive her so they can be reunited. After making a deal with Zoro the pimp, Jeffrey chooses his desired parts from branded prostitutes, hoping for a big payday. After they literally explode from super crack, he’s able to rebuild and revive Elizabeth. ElizabethRead More

http://media.blubrry.com/cinepunx/p/www.cinepunx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Cinepunx_ep98.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSSSCHOOL’S OUT FOR-EVER! Hey friends and welcome to a piping hot new episode of your favorite film and chaos podcast, CINEPUNX! On this illustrious new episode we talk two summer fun time films, SUMMER SCHOOL and BOOKSMART! To be fair, this is much more of an episode about Summer School but honestly Booksmart just connected thematically, and not enough of y’all when to see it. GO SEE BOOKSMART YOU DINGLES! Anyway, think of this as our summer kick off, which is admittedly a little late but hereRead More

The Swerve is the striking — and strikingly depressing — feature debut from New Jersey-based director Dean Kapsalis, and it’s best appreciated as it was envisioned: as a suburban update on a classical Greek tragedy. While actions, and the catastrophic results of those actions, are often telegraphed well in advance, it plays out in such a bleak and uncompromising fashion that you’ll inevitably be left emotionally drained by the end. While some viewers may find the slow, occasionally ponderous, pacing to be a detriment, this portrait of a housewife’s steady mental decline proves to be a lovingly crafted and punishing affair.Read More

Do not, under any circumstances, think that Lucas Heyne’s Mope is going to be a comedy. The title card, reading “this actually happened,” might give the impression — a la Fargo’s famous epigraph — that this is a fictional tale masquerading as a tragicomic reality. In truth, Heyne’s story of Steve Driver (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Tom Dong (Kelly Sry) and their sad experiences and dire end as part of the low-budget fetish porn world of Eric (Brian Huskey) and his company, Ultima DVD, is real. You can read all about it at various “holy shit” clickbait websites, but the tagline sumsRead More

Every time something like this year’s Cinepocalypse gets announced, I consider quitting my job and really trying to figure out a way to make money writing about things like this. I wish everything made me so excited. Going through the list of films, I started looking for themes, and while it’s pretty obvious that the festival is highlighting women in horror since it’s right there in the press release — “CINEPOCALYPSE SPOTLIGHTS THE BADASS WOMEN OF HORROR” — there are some other themes making their way into the festival programming this year. To wit: there are three movies about Satan/demons,Read More

In The Printed Screen, I’ll be taking an irreverent look at comic book adaptations of notable films. We’re currently looking at the 1990 comic book adaptation of Sam Raimi’s Darkman. Read the first part of this article right here and the second part here. When we last encountered Darkman, he was running for his life after stealing a whole lot of Robert Durant’s money. And his face! And when we last encountered Liam Neeson, he was a beloved actor spending his twilight years making middling action pictures. Oops! It’s too much to recap at this point, so here’s a photo of aRead More

http://media.blubrry.com/cinepunx/p/www.cinepunx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Cinepunx_Ep96.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSSWE GOT A REAL, GENUINE, NO JOKE EPISODE FOR YOU HERE FOLKS! WE TALK WACK, WE TALK ON TRACK, AND WE GET DOWN AND DIRTY WITH SOME JOE SWANBERG, ALL WITH THE CHARMING AND AFFABLE MIKE PAULSHOCK! Episode 96 is here, and for this truly blood boiling episode we welcome co-host of the Whine & Cheese podcast and killer band sun god who you probably know, IF YOU ARE COOL! Mike had the great idea to talk about Joe Swanberg, whose films are seen as ground zero forRead More

Angela Gail, along with her partner, Jeffrey Jacob, forms the electronic music duo In the Valley Below. Their music is equally suited to dark nightclubs and sunlit beaches, and the press release for their latest album, The Pink Chateau, describes it perfectly as “sexy, urbane, tropical pop music.” Rather than simply release the album or put out a music video, Gail directed a film which forms a visual interpretation of In the Valley Below’s new album. When we spoke about it the other day, it was really a fascinating glimpse into how both a new filmmaker (this was her directorialRead More